Drop Shadow Problem

[Dinarius]

I had to photograph an object with a clear outline in situ. i.e. I couldn't put it against a white background.

I have placed the photograph on a new white canvas in Photoshop and brush away the surrounding areas to reveal the white background behind.

I now want to create a drop shadow around the object.

However, when I try to create the drop shadow, it appears as though what I have brushed away was still there.

How can I make the drop shadow appear under only the newly outlined object?

Thanks.

D.

[Rand47]

When you say you “brushed away” the area around your object, what do you mean by that?  Are you talking about using the eraser tool at 100%? 

I’d be tempted to try to select just the object then copy it and paste into a new document as a layer and then try drop shadow in blending options for that layer.

Rand

[Dinarius]

Thanks.

I used a layer mask and the brush tool to remove the surrounding bits I didn't need. Took almost an hour at 700%. Very messy. But, looked great when done. Maybe I could have done a selection, but it would have been very tricky.

Regarding the Drop Shadow: I found that reducing Spread to almost zero solved my problem acceptably.

Thanks again.

D.

[Simon J.A. Simpson]

You have to merge the layer with its mask first so the drop shadow is created from the edges of the subject.

Best duplicate the layer with its mask and merge the duplicate. Then create the drop shadow on this layer. Hide the layer with its mask.

Voila!

[Dinarius]

Thanks, but not sure what to do.

I have duplicated the layer with the layer mask, but I can't see how to flatten just the duplicate layer, while leaving the layers below intact (i.e. the subject with the brushed out layer mask, and the white canvas background below that.)

While I'm at it; the white background canvas I created is 255,255,255. I'd like to darken it a little. Can I do that?

Thanks again.

D.

Ps. I can create a new, darker, document and simply place it above the existing one. I'm simply wondering if I can adjust the brightness of a document - better for fine-tuning on the fly.

[Simon J.A. Simpson]

You can flatten an individual layer by selecting it and then using the shortcut 'Command+Option+Shift+E'.

To darken the background layer the simplest way might be to fill it using the bucket tool and selecting a suitable grey from the colour picker (double-click on top-most of the two squares near the bottom of the tool bar).

You can adjust the brightness of the whole document by inserting an adjustment layer at the top of the layer stack.  You have several options to choose from: curves, levels, and exposure.